# Keith Urban and guitar playing **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 15, 2008, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/keith-urban-and-guitar-playing/437727 "2008-02-15T11:38:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Hello\_Newman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Hello\_Newman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Newman)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2008, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/keith-urban-and-guitar-playing/437727/1 "2008-02-15T11:38:01Z")
How is Keith Urban rated as a guitarist? Is he considered average, better than average? ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2008, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/keith-urban-and-guitar-playing/437727/2 "2008-02-15T12:09:39Z")
[Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keith_Urban) is your friend. Apparently he is pretty good. He was a guitarist for Brooks & Dunn and Alan Jackson and others. He’s won some awards, as well. ---
**Author:** ![Crotalus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crotalus/32/41_2.png) [@Crotalus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crotalus)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2008, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/keith-urban-and-guitar-playing/437727/3 "2008-02-15T12:56:19Z")
My opinion as a player is that he is very highly skilled, based on a few live performances I’ve seen on television. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2008, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/keith-urban-and-guitar-playing/437727/4 "2008-02-15T13:06:15Z")
I was impressed with his trick during the week - walking into the audience while playing, taking off his guitar, signing it and giving it to a girl in the crowd. ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Newman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Hello\_Newman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Newman)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2008, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/keith-urban-and-guitar-playing/437727/5 "2008-02-15T13:42:26Z")
It’s a lot more expensive than calling a woman up on stage and kissing her, which is what he did when we saw him. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2008, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/keith-urban-and-guitar-playing/437727/6 "2008-02-15T14:23:35Z")
[QUOTE=Crotalus] My opinion as a player is that he is very highly skilled, based on a few live performances I’ve seen on television. [/QUOTE] **Crotalus** , as usual, is spot on - the guy just isn’t good; he’s a truly great player. Between him, Brad Paisley and Nashville session-stud-turned-full-blown-star-himself Vince Gill, you have current players who are technically at the top of their games. Urban has been known as a Telecaster player, but recently got a few fine vintage Gibsons, including (I believe) a '53 Les Paul - but one that still has the poorly-designed tailpiece featured on the original, first-year '52’s (I can geek out on this type of guitar if there is interest). He also has a couple of vintage LP Specials and Juniors - the “starter” Les Pauls that were much cheaper back in the day, but have always had a special place in rock, punk and other music. I have a 1957 Les Paul Special (in TV Yellow!) and they are a real “guitarist’s guitar” - kinda like the Telecaster of Les Pauls (sorry, that’s insider-guitar speak…) He’s a very melodic, inventive lead player - I couldn’t name a song of his to save my life, but I watch youTube clips other guitar-obsessives post on gear pages of his leads - they are well constructed, melodically interesting, and technically well-executed. He was recently featured on the cover of Vintage Guitar magazine - which is kinda like getting blessed as a true player, along with 1 or 2 other magazines (although if you have enough vintage gear, anyone can get on; they recently had Jay Jay French of Twisted Sister on the cover ::sigh:: ). ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2008, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/keith-urban-and-guitar-playing/437727/7 "2008-02-15T21:21:05Z")
_bump_ I’m just curious, did I kill this thread by over-geeking, or are folks just not big Keith Urban fans? Like I said, I don’t listen to him except from a guitar-player’s standpoint, but I am a bit surprised more folks aren’t checking in on this thread - he’s pretty popular, right? ---
**Author:** ![jacquilynne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/67e7ee/32.png) [@jacquilynne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jacquilynne)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2008, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/keith-urban-and-guitar-playing/437727/8 "2008-02-15T21:58:18Z")
Most music fans can’t really tell if someone is a good guitar player or not. Most music fans don’t really care, for that matter. ---
**Author:** ![scout1222](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/34f0e0/32.png) [@scout1222](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scout1222)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2008, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/keith-urban-and-guitar-playing/437727/9 "2008-02-15T22:06:59Z")
Exactly - I like Keith Urban, but when you started talking about specific kind of guitars, well, I glazed over. I wouldn’t know the difference. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2008, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/keith-urban-and-guitar-playing/437727/10 "2008-02-15T22:21:43Z")
[QUOTE=jacquilynne] Most music fans can’t really tell if someone is a good guitar player or not. Most music fans don’t really care, for that matter. [/QUOTE] A very fair response, and true for the majority of listeners, I’m sure. And **scout1222**? What’s scary is I am sure I did glaze most folks’ eyes over; but, as I stated in my thread, I was holding back on the more geeky stuff! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Flander](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8c91f0/32.png) [@Flander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flander)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2008, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/keith-urban-and-guitar-playing/437727/11 "2008-02-15T22:29:05Z")
It’s hard for people who don’t play guitar to appreciate good guitar playing. Also, hearing a song played isn’t nearly as impressive as seeing the guy’s fingers flailing about the fretboard!